Leg-guard.



No. 693,730. Patented Feb.-l 8, I902.

J. MITCHELL.

LEG GUARD.

[Application filed Jan. 28, 1901.) (No Model.) -z sham-411m mauonms mm: ca. mpTaurnqu WASNINGTGN, n. c.

Warren STATES PAT NT OFrIcE.

JOHN MITCHELL, OF PONSONBY, NEWV ZEALAND.

LEG-GUARD.

SLEECIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 693,730, dated February 18, 1902.

Application filed January 26, 1901. Serial No. 44,880. (No model.)

To (tZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN MITCHELL, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, and a resident of Ponsonby, Auckland, New Zealand, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Leg-Guards, (for which I have filed an application for patent in Great Britain, No. 18,174, dated October 12, 1900;) and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

This invention relates to an improved legguard especially adapted for the use of troopers and rough or cross-country riders, while also serviceable for general riding use, ,modifications of it being applicable for cyclists and for Walking use.

As a whole the device is designed to supersede the ordinary puttee, consisting of a long strip repeatedly wound helically around the leg, and also the ordinary front-opening stiff leg-guard secured in position by a helically- Wound strap, and also the boomerang-shaped gaiter leg-guard adapted to be secured at one end to the boot, helically wound around the leg, and fastened at the top front, and to avoid the disadvantages incidental to such legguards, the first being of disadvantage, inter alien, in the necessity of most carefully windingit around the leg (which requires a knack not easily acquired and a considerable expenditure of time) to insure an evenness of tension and any comfort in its wear and in the liability of its parts to slip and to give a looseness of feel most uncomfortable to the wearer and an unevenness of appearance, the second being of disadvantage, inter alia, in the rigidity of its grasp of the leg and in its consequent interference with the free working of the muscles and in its open front and surrounding fastening-straps, and the third being of disadvantage, inter alia, in its helical winding around the leg, in the insufficiency of the overlapping of its edges,and in its front fastening, the invention also being designed to avoid all projecting fastenings and other parts at the sides and front of the leg, and consequently the liability incidental to such parts to catch in bushes or the like through which the wearer may be carried on horseback or may have to force his way, and also to avoid any unnecessary stiffness in the device, while giving every desirable flexibility and a flexible stiffness, insuring a feeling of support and security and of continuity of fixture at the calf-surrounding part and an unrestrained ankle action.

The principle of the peculiar formation of the improved leg-guard is represented on the accompanying drawings diagrammatically in Figure 1, while Fig. 2 represents a distended elevation in the flat of the leg-guard, and Fig. 3 a modification, and is characterized by the legguard being so formed as to require a horizontal as distinguished from a helical wrapping of the leg-guard around the leg and as to enwrap successively higher portions of the leg as it is so wound around the same, the leg-guard being made with bottom and top leg encircling and fastening parts 1 2, having their longitudinal centers or axes situate in parallel horizontal planes 3 4t, situate, respectively, at about or just above the anklelevel, at which a relatively flexible part of the leg-guard is connected to and takes hold of the boot at the front and a circular horizontal sweep around the lower part of the shin, and at a level intermediate of the calf and the knee where the thick part of the calf diminishes into the under-bend of the knee, at which a stifiened part of vthe leg-guard takes a circular horizontal sweep around the upper part of the shin, and meeting and fashioned parts thereof are secured to each other hehind the leg between the upper part of the calf and the underbend of the knee, and having their vertical centers 5 6 situate at what may be regarded as a practically constant distance equal to about two and a half circumvolutions of a normally-developed leg, the leg-enwrapping part 7 of the leg-guard, intermediate of said fastening parts 1 2 thereof, being so formed as to enwrap successively higher portions of the leg as the leg-guard is horizontally wound around it, its edges 8 9 gradually separating and uprising from contiunity with the horizontal sides of the broad tongue-like boot-fastening part 1, so as to gradually widen this part of the leg-guard, the one edge 8 (which constitutes the covered edge when the leg-guard is wound about the leg) gradually merging into the upright (covered) meeting edge 10 of the part 2, and the other edge 9 (which at such time constitutes the covering and the visible edge) gradually mergin g into the lower edge 14 of the part 2, whereby such intermediate part 7 is formed as a widely-overlapping development of the leg formation from the ankle to just above the swell of the calf.

The horizontally-disposed tongue 1 is made of a relatively flexible formation and is pierced along its longitudinal center with a series of holes or eyelets 11, through which is passed an adjustable looped lace whip cord or the like 12, serving to engage with a hook on the boot or with an eyelet in the boot and to be engaged by the boot-laces and to encircle the boot-top and to hold the tongue down to the boot and to obtain an initial hold and resistance at such part and afiording an attachment the adjustment of which serves to determine the centrality and back position of the top fastening and to render the distance between the said centers 5 6 a relatively fixed quantity, so that one formation of the leg-guard will be equally serviceable for a considerable variety of leg formations. Other suitable adjustable means of connecting the leg-guard andthe boot may, however, be used.

The horizontally-disposed upper shin-encircling part 2 is made of a stiffer formation than that of the part 7 (which in turn is made of a stiffer formation than that of the part 1) and at its under part is fashioned to that part of the leg it encircles, (m'de Fig. 2,) so as to be of a less circumference at its upper edge 13 than at its lower edge 14, and its meeting edges 10 15, which overlap at the back of the leg, are provided with opposite series of eyes 16, a buckle 17, and a strap 18, which latter can be threaded through the eyes, some of which are preferably formed in a flap 19, so as to draw the overlapping parts 1015 together to any required extent, or the fastening of these parts may be effected by any other convenient fastening means located at the back of the legsuch, for example, as buckles 17 and straps 18, as'represented in Fig. 3.

Above the part 2 the leg-guard is or may be made with an upward continuation 20, (wide Fig. 2,) serving to protect the knee, and which may be stiff or may be flexible and turnable inward of the part 2 and may be fitted with a kneeling-pad 21 for such use as kneeling on when firing.

The improved leguards may be made of pig or horse hide or of any other suitable leather or tough textile or other material.

If out from hide, the whole leg-guard may be out in one piece and stiifened where de sired; but for economy and right disposal of stiff and flexible parts, respectively, it is preferably cut in three pieces--namely, the part 2 and the parts respectively above and below the sameor in five pieces, in which event the part below the part 2 would be cut in ee'sfiso three piecesnamely, the tongue 1, the op posite end of the part 7, (indicated by the dotted lines 22, Fig. 1,) and the intermediate portion of such part, the out parts being sewed and riveted together.

In the application of the improved legguard the tongue-piece 1 is fastened to and held down to the boot by the lace 12, and then by a horizontal circular sweep of the leg-guard parts 7 2 inwardly of and around the leg the tongue is wholly covered by the part 7 and the leg is encircled by widely-lapping portions of such part, the lower edge 9 of which overlaps its upper edge 8 and presents a single visible helically-disposed edge crossing the leg front, and the part 2 is caused to wholly circumscribe the upper shin part of the leg, with an overlapping of its meeting parts 10 15 behind the leg, whereupon the whole device is secured by the back fastening devices, which pull the parts together securely and comfortably around the calf parts against the resistance of the connection to the boot, while presenting no projecting parts at the front or side and afiording a complete and effective water-shed.

In modifications of the leg-guard it maybe made with the part 2 adapted only to cover the front part of the upper shin and with buckle and strap fastenings 17 18, as represented in Fig. 3, or with other suitable fastenings, as hereinbefore referred to.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A leg-guard comprising a lower horizontal tongue or member, adapted at its free end to be secured to a boot or shoe and encircle the wearers ankle, an upper horizontal band or member having means to secure its ends together in rear of the wearers leg under the knee, and an intermediate strip or member extending from the lower portion of said upper member and gradually tapering there from to the inner end of the said lower member or tongue; substantially as described.

2. A leg-guard comprising a lower horizontal tongue or member adapted at its free end to be secured to a boot or shoe and encircle the wearers ankle, an upper horizontal band or member having means to secure its ends together in rear of the wearers leg under the knee, and provided with a knee-protector extending from its upper portion, and the intermediate strip or member extending from the lower portion of said upper band and gradually tapering as at 8, 9, to the inner end of said lower tongue or member; substantially as described.

8. A leg-guard comprising a lower horizontal tongue-like ankle-encircling member 1,provided with eyelets and a lacing-cord to connect it with the eyelets of. a boot or shoe, an upper horizontal band or member 2, provided with means at its ends for securing them together in rear of the wearers leg under the knee, and provided with an upper continuation 20, having a kneeling-pad 21, and the intermediate strip or member 7 connecting the members 1, 2, and gradually ta,- pering from the upper band down to the tongue, as shown at 8, 9; substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing wltnesses.

JOHN MITCHELL.

Witnesses:

CHARLES AUBREY DAY, ALFRED CHARLES DAY. 

